Found In the Woods

I’m not a huge car nut, but I do like cars. I enjoy driving tremendously – I spent a good amount of time in my car. Currently I’m driving an ’03 VW Jetta Wagon GS 1.8t. This thing has been a fun car to own; it’s zippy, has ok space, decent fuel econ for a sporty car (~24 MPG for last year, which is on target as-advertised), and I can haul stuff in the back if need be. (Trust me, I’ve hauled a myriad amount of things in this puppy) So why would I think of getting a new car? Well, I like to dream, and think about the future. The what-if’s. So here, without TOO much ado, is my current list of cars that I’m considering for my next car purchase. MIND YOU, this will be no time soon. I’m hoping to get a least another 4-5 years out of my Jetta Wagon, and yes, I know, car models will change, disappear and reappear over time, so I will have to reevaluate again. BUT, let’s say I was buying today; this is my top six wishlist:

BMW 535xi Sports Wagon
base MSRP $54,400 (~58,765 with options)
3.0-liter, turbocharged inline 6-cylinder engine
300 horsepower
xDrive, intelligent all-wheel-drive
EPA Est. MPG 24 mpg hwy

GMC Sierra 1500 Crew Cab 4WD
base MSRP $31,345.00 (~$39,525 with options)
Vortec 4.8L V8 with 295 hp and 305 lb.-ft. of torque
EPA Est. MPG 15 city/20 hwy

GMC Acadia SLT AWD
base MSRP $30,470 (~$39,400 with options)
3.6L Variable Valve Timing V6 MPFI 275 hp, 251 lb.-ft. of torque
EPA Est. MPG 16 city/24 hwy

Subaru Outback 2.5 XT Limited
base MSRP $21,995 (~$33,844 with options)
243-hp turbocharged SUBARU BOXER engine, 241 lb-ft of torque at 3,600 rpm
EPA Est. MPG 18 city/24 hwy

VW Passat Wagon VR6 4Motion
base MSRP $25,200 (~$39,934 with options)
VR6 V6 280 hp, 265 lb.-ft. of torque
EPA Est. MPG 23 city/32 hwy

Audi S4 Avant
base MSRP $ (~$54,185 with options)
S4 Avant 4.2 quattro 340 HP tiptronic, 302 lb.-ft. of torque
EPA Est. MPG 15 city/20 hwy

An old standard fav of mine, Matthew Sweet, has an upcoming album release; Sunshine Lies, due Aug 26, 2008. From the sound of the three samples on the site, he’s still got that fun, intense, melodic structure to his songwriting and sound. I always enjoyed the moody, bouncy melodies and clever harmonies, always well placed, he injects into his songs.

I became a fan of his when I heard Girlfriend on MTV (as so many other people) which caused me to go out and buy the single. Fell in love with his work and got to be an even bigger fan in college with his release of Altered Beast and 100% Fun. Even when he went off on a tangent and formed Blue Sky on Mars I followed. Thanks to him, my ears were nearly blown out at a small club show at the Stone Baloon in Newark, DE. They had a getup for a much larger venue, where the stage at the SB was merely a small platform in a bar. He pretty much faded off my radar at that point, as did his commercial success. I picked up a few oddities on OiNKs over the years, but that’s about it until today when I was reminded of him by a good friend.

Check out the album, samples and his pottery for sale (!!!) on his official site: http://www.matthewsweet.com

I found this video via a story on BoingBoing and enjoyed it tremendously.

Got a letter last week from VW proclaiming that I have paid off my loan from them. The Jetta Wagon is 100% paid off. HUZZAH!

Mom finally traded in the old wagon for a new Forester. The wagon treated us well; a few cross country trips, up and down the east coast too many times to count, to the mall and back again, through piles of leaves and occasionally cross country. TBC. A few accidents. I learned to drive in that car. I loved that car. I will miss it. 250,000+ miles, you did us well. RIP.

This blew my mind. How wild is this?

This is a new one for me, folks. The term Mall Ninja describes someone who takes tactical (ie. SWAT) and military gear too seriously and yet has no real need for the stuff. One might envision a nerdy, overweight guy browsing internet sites and catalogs for body armor and tricked-out gun parts so they can build an arsenal and appear to be technically knowledgeable, yet the McDonalds uniform and Twinkies give it all away.

Reported this morning on BoingBoing, someone has set up a shrine to the mall ninja of mall nijas, Gecko45. Read all you need to know here. IF you liked that, you will love THIS. I was laughing so hard, I didn’t know what hit me. Here are some quotes from the discussion on “you might be a mall ninja IF…”:

You own a Glock 9mm and dozens of mags, and the only magazines that are not 33 rounders are the ones that came with the gun, and you have no clue were you put them.

You walk in Home Depot a look at a piece of tile, or sheet metal and say, ” you know if I wrap that in enough duct tape, it will make a good trauma plate.”

You think swinging down from the top of your garage on a rope qualifies as repelling.

You clamp 2 40 round mags together to equalize the center of gravity on your AR. It’s currently front heavy with the rail, lights, lazers,Eotech,and Eotech mangifier.

Every T-shirt in your closet has some form of the words… “police” “swat” “special forces” etc…. And the only uniform you ever wore is from McDonalds

I’ve had issues with Home Depot for ages. The place ran Hechingers out of town in the DC metro area years ago and now has the same issues Hechinger’s had when it closed its doors. What it doesn’t have that Hechingers did have is local roots. But now HD is plagued by bad customer service, inaccurate inventory, poor quality inventory, lack of knowledgeable staff, messy stores and a host of other issues. The whole “show me your receipt on the way out or you can’t leave” practice that many superstores practice now is something that has always irritated me. It never seemed right, to be treated like a criminal, and I highly doubt that it really prevents much theft. I mean, you’ve just come through the register, you’ve got a bag, what do they think I’m doing? Being accused guilty before proven guilty goes against so many tenets of our societal foundations yet like sheep we follow these corporate mongrels’ rules without a peep.

This guy got detained by DCPD for not showing his receipt and wrote a letter to the CEO of HD to complain. It’s well written and it struck a note with me because on many occasions have experienced several of the things on his list of complaints.

http://www.mattashburn.com/index.php/2008/02/27/why-ill-no-longer-shop-at-dcs-home-depot/

When are they going to learn? Hopefully now.

Shepard Fairey (of Andre The Giant has a Posse fame) has done a nice poster to show his support for pres. candidate Barack Obama. Good stuff.